Artificial Intelligence in Identity Access Management

A well-regulated Identity & Access Management (IAM) is in fact the core of cybersecurity. Unfortunately, it is not always being seen that way. Administrators find it a difficult subject, know too little about it and see it primarily as an IT problem. And since it is not considered a strategic priority, the necessary investments to modernize systems lag behind. This is becoming an increasing problem in the age of AI. For example, if AI-enabled cybercriminals gain access to sensitive data hosted outside the organization. Indeed, IAM plays a major role in protecting sensitive data and is a fundamental part of the fight against hackers, ransomware and other cyber threats. Especially now that hybrid working is the norm in many places and cloud-based systems are standard facilities. Moreover, a well-established, effective IAM is essential if you want to be compliant in terms of laws and regulations such as NIS2 and GDPR. 

Normally, setting up and maintaining IAM is a lot of manual work, and therefore, an IAM takes time. Reviewing access, determining roles, managing accounts, requesting and approving permission: it's slow, error-prone and expensive. With AI, you can improve a number of things quickly. You can determine access because AI analyzes user behavior and advises on appropriate access to information based on that analysis. Thus, the principle of least privilege becomes the standard. In addition, AI provides automatic detection of high-risk accounts. Aberrant or unused accounts and unusual patterns are being noticed and addressed in real time. AI also provides more efficient access certification. Instead of countless – often unclear – access requests, managers receive a clear question including context: “This employee belongs to team X, 90% from that team have the same access”. That works faster and more accurately.

There are more and more viable AI applications on IAM platforms. At the same time, it is worth noting that Artificial Intelligence is not the silver bullet when it comes to security. Humans will always be needed to control AI decisions. In addition, human input plays a vital role in terms of ethics, morality and setting the standard. In addition, it is important to think about ethics in advance and to ensure responsible AI governance, including from a compliance perspective. To do this, the subject must first be placed higher on the internal agenda and a new operating model must be established. After all, you have to use AI safely and transparently. Finally, as an organization, you need to provide training and education so that all involved administrators and security teams understand how AI in IAM can help improve cybersecurity. By integrating AI into your IAM, you speed up processes, reduce risks and make compliance easier.  In short, IAM is not an IT problem. It is an essential part of organizational security.